Online auction giant eBay announced Thursday that it has agreed to acquire Zong, a leading mobile payment company, for approximately 240 million U.S. dollars in cash.
Zong enables users to pay for things via direct billing to mobile phones. Consumers only need to enter their mobile phone numbers in the payment process. It has partnered with more than 250 mobile network operators in 45 countries and regions worldwide, and currently is only accepted by online games and social networks to purchase virtual goods.
Ebay said in a statement that combined with its PayPal's global payment platform, the company expects that Zong will add complementary technology and talent that help strengthen PayPal's leadership position in mobile payments and digital goods.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2011.
Founded in 2008, Zong has raised a total of 27.5 million U.S. dollars in funding. It is an early mobile payment provider for Facebook and other partners include Zynga, Sony Online Entertainment, Big Fish Games and etc. In 2009, it launched Zong+, which enables users bill microtransactions to credit, debit and prepaid cards.
Ebay has been busy with acquisitions recently as it faces competition from fast growing mobile payment startups like Square and giants including Google, which introduced mobile payment system "Google Wallet" in May.
